1. Field
The present invention relates to a sit down mobile exercise apparatus operated in a recumbent position where foot operated pedals follow an oblong pedal path. More particularly, the present invention relates to an exercise machine having separately supported pedals for the feet and arm exercise coordinated with motion of the feet to drive at least one wheel of a mobile exercise apparatus.
2. State of the Art
the benefits of regular exercise to improve overall health, appearance and longevity are well documented in the literature. For exercise enthusiasts, the search continues for safe apparatus that provides full body exercise for maximum benefit in minimum time. Furthermore, the aging population tends to favor recumbent forms of exercise that encourage muscle tone in an outdoor setting.
The sit down exercise cycle is the most commonly used apparatus today to elevate the heart rate and exercise some of the leg muscles. To achieve any significant benefit, however, an extensive amount of time is demanded of the user resulting in boredom. To reduce the time needed to elevate the heart rate and exercise additional muscles, various forms of hand cranks and arm levers have been added to sit-down stationary and mobile exercise cycles.
Numerous combinations of levers and cranks to combine exercise for arms and feet can be found. Tong in U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,810 adds arm levers coupled to the crank of a bicycle for hand driving coordinated with the foot pedals. Jeranson in U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,614 adds rocking handlebars to a bicycle which drives the front wheel. Hex in U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,200 combines arm and foot levers for sit down exercise while Glaser in U.S. Pat. No. 3,727,913 shows reciprocating handle and seat coupled to a foot crank. Yount et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,512 shows spring loaded arm levers and foot crank while Mester in U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,201 provides independent levers with a foot crank for various sit down exercise. Hooper in U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,030 couples a pair of swing arms to a foot crank with a crank eccentric for sit down exercise having air resistance.
Lucas et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,225 offer oscillating arm levers coupled to the foot crank by a connecting rod. Dalebout et al. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,971,316 and 5,000,4444 also shows oscillating swing arms coupled to the foot crank by an offset second crank and connecting rod. Lom in U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,533 offers oscillating arms driven by a slider-crank mechanism coupled to a foot crank.
In recent years, recumbent cycles with or without arm exercise have become popular where the seat of the operator is generally the same height from the floor as the crank axis. Actually, recumbent cycles started appearing over 35 years ago with Aronsohn in U.S. Pat. No. 3,017,180 having simple cranks for both feet and arms. Comfort was addressed by Baldwin in U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,656 adding a plush seat and crank driven air aimed at the operator. Lo in U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,850 added wind drag belt driven by a simple crank and handle bars adjacent to the seat.
Several recumbent mobile cycles offer lower body exercise with simple foot crank propulsion having various steering mechanism such as Harmeyer in U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,732 and Rosengrant et al. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,469. James in U.S. Pat. No. 5,700,228 offers a mobile gyrocycle combining a simple foot crank with rotatable handles for upper and lower body exercise. Liu in U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,301 shows combinations of arm, foot and torso oscillations along with a simple foot crank option to muscle power vehicles. Liebert in U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,675 uses arm and leg muscles extending and retracting to propel various human powered vehicles steered by head movement.
Roberts in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,178,593 and 5,269,736 combines simple crank recumbent exercise and upper body exercise where the operator moves to a prone posture for arm exercise. Pitzen et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,391 provides a recumbent with independent swing arms and foot pedals each driving an electrical generator. Habing et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,337 adds seat adjustment during exercise. Bostic et al. in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 353,422 display state of the art swing arm handle and simple crank foot pedal exercise. There remains a need for recumbent exercise that provides more challenging total body coordinated exercise.
Swing arms that support a foot pedal to gain mechanical advantage over a simple crank were first used in velocipedes over 100 years ago as in the home trainer by McClintock in U.S. Pat. No. 359,800. Golding in U.S. Pat. No. 400,204 showed several foot pedal arm curves that were vertically extended to increase the power stroke of a velocipede. Montiglio in U.S. Pat. No. 1,577,585 shows swing arms attached to a crank and horizontal slider to vertically extend the foot stroke of a simple bicycle crank to improve the power stroke. Marc in U.S. Pat. No. 4,193,324 offers a vertical oriented elliptical pedal path using a hypocycloidal gear crank drive again to improve the power stroke of a bicycle.
Yamaguci in U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,182 also vertically extends the pedal curve of a bicycle using a pedal swing arm attached to a gear pair with a crank and slider joint to gain mechanical advantage for the power stroke. Schirrmacher in U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,318 uses a pair of long swing arms to extend the vertical height of the pedal path to power a bicycle. Bortolin in U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,276 brings a modern version of the velocipede from Australia with several pedal swing arm versions having an extended vertical pedal path to improve the power stroke of a bicycle. Broluska in U.S. Pat. No. 2,166,565 devised a linkage crank system that changes a simple crank pedal path to address the deal center problem common with bicycle cranks. A vertically extended foot pedal path is shown by Hwang in U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,269 for sit down cycle exercise where a gear crank climbs a vertically extended gear track.
Pedal swing arms having a simple pivot have been adapted to exercise machines such as Hartmann in U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,109 where a dependent mechanism is used for up and down control in place of a simple crank. Leg only exercise in the recumbent position is shown in Webb in U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,081 where a four-bar linkage double rocker mechanism guides a foot pedal with reciprocating motion. Prince et al. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,514,053 and 5,437,587, and Hawkins et al in U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,053 provide horizontal linear foot pedal motion. Habing in U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,583 provides swing arm foot pedals coordinated with seat back movement. Hsieh in U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,482 offers multifunction recumbent exercise with a dual set of swing arms for leg exercise.
Hix in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,645,200 and 4,949,954 uses simple foot pedal swing arms for sit down exercise having swing arm handles where the swing arms are coupled by belt means. Recumbent arm and foot swing levers are coordinated or independent in McBride et al in U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,679. Hildebrandt et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,356 shows arm and foot levers that are connected to each other for contralateral movement. Sleamaker in U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,251 provides a multifunction unit having foot swing arms and cable arm exercise.
There is a need for a mobile recumbent cycle that has an oblong inclined pedal path configured to better utilize the range of leg and foot motion possible with recumbent exercise for enhanced leg exercise than is possible with a simple bicycle crank. There is a further need for extended closed loop hand path arm exercise that can be coordinated with extended foot pedal path exercise for total body mobile exercise.